The present invention relates to the treatment of respiratory disorders and has particular application to effecting a physiological change in the patient to correct the cause of the respiratory disorder.
Respiratory disorders occur in patients, resulting in a variety of effects such as sleep apnea, snoring, labored breathing, oxygen starvation, and the resulting physical impairments arising from such disorders.
Severe cases of breathing impairment are treated by oxygen therapy. Snoring is treated by various techniques for causing the patient to assume a sleeping position or orientation which avoids or reduces the likelihood of obstruction of the airway which may be the cause of the snoring. Snoring often accompanies an apnea condition in which the patient has repeated episodes of interrupted breathing during sleep. Such interruptions are normally caused by temporary blockage of the airway, for example by reason of lack of muscle tone in the tissue surrounding the airway which allows the tissue to block the airway. Surgical treatment of apnea involves the excision of the tissue causing the blockage and frequently the surgery treatment fails to correct the problem. A more common treatment is the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). In this treatment, the patient wears a nasal mask which provides a positive airway pressure in the nostrils which splits the airway open and prevents tissue from occluding it. Prescribing the proper level of positive air pressure is accomplished in a sleep laboratory by trial-and-error.
Snore guards in the form of dental appliances have been effective for some patients to reduce snoring and concomitantly reduce the incidence of apnea. Snore guards normally maintain the oral cavity in a position which ameliorates the snoring.
The prior treatments for respiratory disorders have involved treatment of the symptoms rather than treatment of the cause.
The present invention provides a method for diagnosing and treating the cause of respiratory disorders, and is also useful in prosthodontics and implantology to assure optimum relative positioning of the mandibles.
The present invention provides a method for determining the deviation of the lower mandible from the optimum relationship with the upper mandible. The optimum position of the lower mandible provides a maximum contact between the teeth when the posterior teeth fit tightly together. For patients whose mandibles have a malocclusion or deviation from the optimum position, the muscles of the face effect an adapted position of the jaw to accommodate the malocclusion causing a perpetuation of the malocclusion.
The present invention provides a treatment for respiratory disorder in which the occlusion of the mandibles is determined and a corrective therapy is employed to effect optimum positioning of the mandibles and correction of the adaptive positioning of the jaw.